Washington Will Destroy 30,000 Abortion Pills

9.9.25

Click to skip ahead: In Stockpiled Mifepristone Set to Expire, Washington is set to destroy 30k doses of abortion pills. Criminalizing Care has new details on the fifteen charges against a Texas midwife. In the States has news from Texas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Indiana, and South Dakota. Attacks on Democracy has a new report on just how badly Republicans want to stop voters from having a say on abortion. In Give Me a Break, just a few words on Trump’s drawing to Epstein. Meet the Creeps introduces you (again) to Missouri AG Andrew Bailey. Anti-Abortion Strategy reports that conservatives are suggesting you don’t need an abortion for ectopic pregnancies. Finally, You Love to See It highlights some bad-ass young activists in Illinois.

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Stockpiled Mifepristone Set to Expire

This is so incredibly disappointing: Washington will be destroying its stockpile of nearly 30,000 doses of mifepristone.

The Washington State Standard reports that many of the pills—purchased in 2023 as a backstop against potential federal restrictions—are set to expire in a few months. And while the state still has another reserve of 17,600 doses just in case the Trump administration moves to restrict the medication, that’s not really the point.

This mifepristone has been sitting in a state Department of Corrections facility for years, and the state should find something to do with them—anything other than destroying them! (Shit, I’d fly a plane over Texas and air drop the pills if I could.)

A spokesperson for Gov. Bob Ferguson told the Standard that the state can’t sell the medication for less than it was purchased, and that they can only give it to qualified providers. “We continue to be open to options to utilize the stockpile before it expires, but at this point, there is not a demand for it,” Brionna Aho said.

With one in four abortions provided via telehealth, and more than half of abortion patients using medication, I just can’t imagine that there’s literally zero demand.

If they can’t sell it, why not give it away? Surely there’s some workaround to whatever state regulation is holding them up. And Washington isn’t the only pro-choice state with a mifepristone stockpile—what happens when pills in other states start to expire, too?

I’ll tell you the suggestion I’ve made many, many times to leading activists, organizations, and donors: we need a gutsy pro-choice governor to launch a massive advance provision campaign and give abortion pills away as a preventative public health measure. Progressive states should be making abortion pills available in the same way they make Narcan available—just in case, because we know they save lives.

After all, pregnancy is deadly! Especially in post-Dobbs America.

Conservatives are coming after abortion pills full-force, and we can’t afford to waste a single dose. What do you all think?

Criminalizing Care

Nearly six months ago, Houston-area midwife Maria Margarita Rojas became the first person charged under Texas’ abortion ban. Today, the Houston Chronicle reports that Rojas has been charged with 15 felonies—including a new, dystopian charge that she killed an ‘unborn child.’

Rojas—accused of providing abortion pills to at least two patients—is also charged with three counts of performing an abortion, and 12 counts of practicing medicine without a license. The Chronicle notes that while Rojas was indicted in June, these specific charges weren’t immediately made public until now.

Rojas’ attorney says they’re awaiting additional information before making public comment, but that they’re ready to “fight vigorously for these charges to come to an end.”

As you likely remember, Texas officials made a huge show of arresting Rojas earlier this year. The goal was to make an example of her—and terrify any other providers in the state in the process. As AED reported at the time, conservatives were quick to weaponize Rojas’ Latina identity to push racist and xenophobic narratives about “illegal” immigrants committing crimes. They even used the fact that Rojas is a midwife to frame her services as unsafe—even as midwives provide essential reproductive care, and bridge growing care gaps.

That kind of nastiness has marked this case from the start, with Texas state attorneys in Ken Paxton’s office showing open disdain for Rojas. When she invoked the Fifth Amendment during a hearing a few months ago, for example, Attorney Amy Hilton sneered to the judge: “It looks like she’s enjoying this.”

A brief note about language: both the Chronicle and Houston Public Media used the term ‘unborn child’ in their coverage of Rojas’ case today. Since one of the charges against her is officially listed as “performance of abortion—unborn child dies,” it makes sense to repeat the phrase in quotes. But neither outlet used quotation marks, leaving the anti-abortion framing to stand on its own.

It may seem like a small quibble, but every word matters.

In the States

Let’s stick with Texas for one more moment. The 19th has a good piece today looking at the potential impact of HB 7, the nightmare bill that could create a chilling effect on telehealth abortion care.

As we warned a few weeks ago, this legislation—heading to Gov. Greg Abbott for signing—doesn’t only impact Texans. Because it allows citizens to sue out-of-state groups that ship or manufacture abortion pills, providers very well may decide that mailing the medication into Texas isn’t worth the legal and financial risk.

Indeed, that’s what Debra Lynch of Her Safe Harbor says she’s hearing from other healthcare providers—even those under the protection of shield laws:

“We’re hearing from other providers that have large on-the-ground practices: Is it worth it for them to continue to take this risk by providing a telehealth service, if it’s going to pose a risk to their on-ground practice? They’re concerned. If they continue to do the telehealth abortion, is that going to, through civil action, pose a big threat to their ability to maintain their in-person clinics?”

And that, of course, is the point. For more information on the legislation, read Abortion, Every Day’s explainer below:

Texas Republicans’ New Cash-Grab Abortion Ban

Over in Louisiana, here’s a story we’ve seen a thousand times: Supposedly fiscally conservative anti-abortion state governments are being wildly irresponsible with funds for anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers.

Since Dobbs, CPCs in anti-abortion states have been raking in almost unthinkable amounts of taxpayer dollars. (We’re talking over a billion.) Now, the Louisiana Illuminator reports that Gov. Jeff Landry’s administration failed to provide even basic oversight of the millions of dollars given to fake clinics in the state.

Over the last year, Louisiana distributed $1.2 million to a dozen centers. And though only certain services and resources can be covered with those funds—like counseling, mentoring, and items like cribs or diapers—an auditor couldn’t verify if that’s how the money was used. Why? Because state officials don’t require crisis pregnancy centers to document how they spend money.

Again, this is a tale as old as time. We know Republicans use these programs to funnel money to religious groups—or personally enrich individual anti-abortion activists. Who could forget how Texas CPC leaders used state funding to buy themselves property and launch business ventures? Or how checks for CPC funding in North Carolina were delivered to people’s personal addresses or empty lots?

The truth is that very little CPC funding goes to people in need: a 2022 report from Equity Forward found that Heartbeat International—the country’s biggest network of CPCs—provided less than one pack of diapers per person. Many centers even require women to earn items like diapers and strollers by going to Bible study classes. (Very Christian of them.)

Worst of all, these groups don’t provide real care—they exist solely to prey on and deceive potential abortion seekers, and collect massive amounts of private data in the process.

So, none of this is surprising—but it is infuriating, especially in a state like Louisiana, which holds one of the highest poverty rates in the nation.

While you’re feeling pissed off, just a reminder that Tennessee is refusing to drop its legal fight to enforce every bit of its draconian ‘abortion trafficking’ law—including the portion blocked by a judge for violating free speech rights.

Like other so-called anti-trafficking policies, Tennessee’s law bans “transporting, harboring, and recruiting” minors for abortion. It’s the ‘recruiting’ piece that the courts point out is intentionally vague: under that language, even telling a teenager about an abortion clinic could be considered “trafficking.” (There’s a reason an appeals court blocked similar language about ‘recruiting’ in Idaho’s ‘anti-trafficking’ law last year.)

Still, Tennessee attorneys are appealing a federal judge’s block, insisting that they’re just protecting children. But let’s be real—this law is just part of the anti-abortion movement’s broader, horrific war on young people’s most basic human rights. Ashley Coffield, president of Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi, gets it exactly right:

“Forcing children to give birth is a barbaric act, and we cannot criminalize the trusted adults in a child’s life who share information about care and resources… This is a state where lawmakers vote in the affirmative to deny minors the right to an abortion, even in cases of incest and rape.”

Just remember, what happens to teens today comes for the rest of us tomorrow. Don’t forget that it wasn’t so long ago that Montana Republicans tried to pass a law that would charge women who leave the state for abortions with “trafficking” their own fetuses.

Tennessee isn’t the only state fighting for the right to force kids into childbirth: Indiana was in court this week, fighting on behalf of a law that prohibits healthcare providers from giving minors information about abortion.

Attorneys for the state argued to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today that the law doesn’t quash doctors’ free speech—and that providers could give teens information about abortion, just not referrals. But Gavin Rose, an ACLU lawyer representing Planned Parenthood, pointed out that there’s not a meaningful difference. In other words: what constitutes information vs referral?

“If Planned Parenthood hands a young person a piece of paper with a list of Illinois-based healthcare providers where the patient can get prenatal care, it violates no law. Change the words on the paper to a list of Illinois-based healthcare providers that offer abortion care, and Planned Parenthood has violated the law. That is the essence of content- and viewpoint-based discrimination.”

Indiana’s law was blocked in May 2024 for violating the First Amendment, but Republican leaders in the state just can’t take no for an answer. We’ll keep you updated as the case progresses, but in the meantime, Courthouse News has a good rundown for anyone interested in the legal nitty gritty.

We have some inspiring news I know you’ll love at the end of the newsletter, but in case you need a pick-me-up on the way there: South Dakota just defeated an anti-democratic attempt to move up the deadline for proposed ballot initiatives. Advocates in the state say it was a transparent effort to stop additional abortion rights proposals from making it onto the ballot.

Frankly, that’s how we should interpret all Republican attacks on citizen ballot initiatives, at this point.

Attacks on Democracy

While we’re on the subject of the GOP’s obsession with killing pro-choice ballot measures: A new report from the Fairness Project details a 95% increase in legislation aimed at stopping or complicating the ballot measure process.

This year alone, state lawmakers introduced 150 bills to try to “make ballot measures less accessible and harder to pass.” That’s up from 76 such bills introduced in state houses in 2023—which was already a lot! From the report:

“Over time, these attacks have grown in number and sophistication, with lawmakers taking a ‘death by a thousand cuts’ approach—introducing small, incremental changes that collectively make the ballot initiative process nearly unusable, while aiming to avoid public attention and media scrutiny.”

Abortion, Every Day has been covering these kinds of attacks for the last three years, and they really do run the gamut from shameless and explicit to convoluted and hidden. A few of my favorite hits: Ohio’s top election official drafted a biased ballot summary with the nation’s leading anti-abortion groups—organizations, by the way, that tried to stop Missouri voters from signing a pro-choice petition by sending them texts claiming that signature-gatherers were trying to steal their identities.

In South Dakota, anti-abortion activists pressured voters to rescind their support for a pro-choice petition while impersonating the secretary of state’s office; it just so happened those activists were from a group founded by a Republican state rep. That’s to say nothing of the Arkansas Republicans who stripped voters of their right to have a say on abortion, even after petitioners gathered enough signatures. (They used a paperwork technicality.)

But no one can beat the maniacs in Florida, led by Gov. Ron DeSantis, who launched a ‘fraud’ investigation into 36,000 already-verified signatures in support of Amendment 4, with police showing up to voters’ homes to question them.

All of which is to say: we shouldn’t expect these attacks to end anytime soon. Republicans know very well that abortion rights are popular and forced birth is not. And they’ll do anything they can to stop voters from having a say.

So consider this report just another reminder that abortion isn’t just a health issue, women’s issue, or human rights issue: it’s a democracy issue.

Give Me a Break

I don’t like writing about Donald Trump or the Epstein files. There are so many other things that need my attention, and plenty of other people are covering that mess. But I had to say something about this noxious drawing that Trump gifted to the country’s most famous pedophile. I’ll let the video speak for itself.

Meet the Creeps

Speaking of the Epstein files, let’s talk about Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey! Last month, we learned that Donald Trump appointed Bailey as his co-director of the FBI, and oh, boy, where do we even begin?

NPR dug into Bailey’s extremism last week, but if you’re a regular reader you already know his name well: the Republican has devoted his tenure as AG to relentlessly targeting abortion providers, obstructing the state’s abortion rights ballot measure, and attempting to surveil abortion patients by trying to access their private medical records. Those are the priorities he’s taking with him to the FBI.

Abortion Action Missouri’s Mallory Schwarz says, “As obsessed as Bailey has proven to be with young girls' bodies, I can think of no one more qualified to join the team tasked with burying the Epstein files.” Whew.

Anti-Abortion Strategy

Anti-abortion activists are many things, but subtle isn’t one of them. The rabidly anti-abortion outlet Live Action has published its latest, most heinous piece of propaganda insinuating that ectopic pregnancies don’t require abortions.

As a reminder: Ectopic pregnancies can be fatal. The only truly safe treatment is to end the pregnancy. But this week, the extremist organization published a puff piece interviewing a religious influencer who rejected the advice of doctors after finding out her pregnancy implanted in the scar tissue from previous c-sections. (She already had seven children.)

Thankfully, this woman is still alive—though she needed an emergency, life-saving hysterectomy and her daughter was born very early. But hers is a one in a million story. And Live Action knows that using her as ‘proof’ that you don’t need to end ectopic pregnancies will surely get women killed.

These stories are part of a broader trend we’ve been covering at AED: Conservative outlets glorifying women who die for their pregnancies, or refuse life-saving medical treatment—painting them as the ultimate mothers. In fact, this was one of our predictions for 2025: that we’d see an increase in propaganda aimed at making women’s suffering and deaths more palatable.

At the end of the day, we think women should be able to make their own choices about their health—even choices we disagree with. But what stories like this aim to do is further the terrifying claim that women never need abortions to save their lives or health. (Unfortunately, we’ll have more on this strategy tomorrow.)

You Love to See It

Right on time for back-to-school season, Illinois just became the first Midwestern state to guarantee access to abortion pills at public university health centers. What you might not know, however, is that you can thank college activists for making it happen!

That’s right: this incredible and necessary law all started with the student leaders of Planned Parenthood Gen Action at University of Illinois’ flagship Urbana-Champaign campus.

Salon reports that student activists—fresh off a successful campaign to get emergency contraception on campus—realized that even though Illinois is a pro-choice state, getting abortion pills could be difficult for college students. That’s in part because clinics there are overwhelmed with out-of-state patients. From Katie Holland, PPGA at UIUC co-president:

“So we were like, ‘What if students could get this on campus? We have this health center. What if we could put it there?’”

Pretty inspiring stuff—especially considering that young people have been among the most targeted by Republicans these last few years. Holland says getting to watch the law get passed, especially after watching its inception, is “so surreal.” And that while it’s easy to feel powerless as a young person right now, “the work that we do as a group matters and people are listening.”

“You’ve got to have the courage to speak up. You can’t just give up. Yeah, with the referendum, they weren’t able to implement it right away. But did we give up? No, and look at where we are now.”

Couldn’t love this more. A huge thanks to all the activists who made this law happen!